Thursday, 11 December 2014

Nowadays in the media, sides had been taken when it came to big news/topics. Normally the division is between Western and Eastern media. Among the mainstream of thinking, Western media had always been seen as praising the West and demonizing the East.

Looking at the recent tensions in the Middle East along with the war in Iraq, BBC and CNN were always praising the Coalition forces while Al Jazeera was exposing the other side showing the atrocities which Western Media hardly talked about.

Another good example is China which has intense censorship with the government deciding what is it's media could and could not say to it's people. Whenever crisis batted the Communist Nation, Chinese state media often said very little or nothing at all in order to cover up any government wrongdoing. Examples of wrongdoing is the police brutality, torture and mistreatment of suspects in custody. The majority of the crisis happened around Tibet and Xinjiang province. Outside China, Hong Kong and Western media often had reporters going undercover and spreading the news to the rest of the world. Another good example was the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre which Chinese media had not said word about while Hong Kong and Western media kept on reporting on every anniversary since the deadly massacre. Western media were quick to report on Hong Kong's umbrella revolution while Chinese state media said very little.

RT (Russia Today) is another dominant non Western media like Al Jazeera which reports from the Russian perspective and is heavily biased towards the West. It often posted articles showing the bad side of the West like corruption, police brutality, unpopularity and flaws. During the Euromaidan protests which Ukraine was split on whether to join Russia or the European Union, the split between the media came when Viktor Yanukovych was forced to flee Ukraine. Western media quickly sided with the change in Ukraine's government while RT was still siding with Yanukovych. When the Ukrainian Civil War broke out, Western Media sided with the Kiev government while RT backed Russia and the Pro Russian separatists. Tensions escalated when MH17 was shot down over Eastern Ukraine. Western media blamed the incident on the Pro Russian separatists and Putin's Russia while RT was blamed the Kiev Government.

It't isn't just the media alone that has been taking sides. Race issue had been problem to this day with the shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, US. There had been bitter disputes with one side supporting Michael Brown who was unarmed and had his hands up. The other side supported Officer Darren Wilson who was repeatedly attacked after responding to Brown's robbery and had opened fire to kill Brown to protect himself.

When studying events and stories, it is recommended to look at multiple news outlets and compare to see what has been said, seen or happened. Instead of looking at a single news outlet, you are able to get a wide knowledge and understanding of the event/story and know who is telling the truth or who is covering up.